This was taken a little while back in Sept in a small nature reserve close to my house. I liked the light and pose, and I was fairly close, as I was shooting from my car. BG is natural as shot.
It's a peach of a shot, the colours are beautifully complimentary. I like the pose, in an ideal world I suppose a slightly higher angle would have been better, but we don't always live in an ideal world.:)
Attractive, earth-tone bird, details sharp; complementary background; simple and uncluttered. In a perfect world you'd have jacked up your car a meter or two to get a straight-on angle. Also, I'm wondering about your crop. Your thinking here is that the bird's head guides the crop; the bird looks into the picture. But could one not use the breast of the bird as the guide for cropping? I.e., could you give us more room to the right?
Craig, thanks for your detailed critique. Although I can see where you are going by using the chest as a reference, I feel the angle of the head decides how the comp should be.